Paragon of Virtue
by SuperNova53
Summary: "Jeez. See I knew you were still pissed at me." Tony throws his hands high and rolls his eyes, making a point of checking his watch. "Right, it's ten minutes past two, in the morning," he steps directly in front of Steve, rolls his shoulder and braces like he's about to catch a pass from a quarterback. "Okay. I'm ready, give me the lecture." His lips quirking up at the ends.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Notes: So my idea for this came from re-watching Iron Man 1 when Tony Stark still had a conscience about all the bad people who had Stark Weapons and were doing bad things (maybe he still does and it's mentioned somewhere in the other films - so sorry if I missed it there!); I figured hey-that would probably be enough to keep me up at night let alone a chronic insomniac like Tony Stark and of course have him conveniently run into Steve in the kitchen! XD**

 **I had fun writing this (as usual!) and there is another two chapters for this fic under construction so enjoy guys!**

* * *

By the time the third automatic door slams in his face Steve is pissed, _really_ pissed. He's followed Tony from the landing pad to his workshop.

He wasn't lecturing, why did everybody think he lectured? It was more, trying to get Tony to see why everybody had been so worried, why Steve hadn't had any sleep in the forty-eight hours since Tony had decided to jet off solo and cut communication with the whole team.

* * *

 _"You don't just get to disappear Tony!"_ Steve said in a shout-whispered for the sake of those who were sleeping instead of keeping an all-night vigil on the scanners. _"Nobody knew where you were."_

"What? Didn't you see me? I was all over the news." Tony glanced back over his shoulder, smirking and throwing his hands wide, "Were you not entertained, Steven?" Whatever bit Tony was doing, it was lost on him.

They'd seen him alright; CNN had been playing it on a seemingly endless loop for the last two hours - 'Iron Man Destroys Massive Weapons Cache Over The Pacific'

"We nearly sent out a search party." Steve said, still hot on his heels, "We were ready to scramble the quinjets!"

"You should have. We could have flown in formation. Had a sort of 'welcome home party'." Tony all but skipped down the short flight of stairs to his workshop.

 _"Tony."_ Steve warned.

 _"Steve."_ Tony replied as the door slammed shut between them; locking Steve out. Leaving him standing with his face inches from the metal, he balled a fist and pulled back an elbow with half a mind to slam it straight into the door peeling it open like the lid of a sardine can. It's the thought that he might get shot with one of Tony's repulsors that stopped him short; he knows how jumpy he'd been since New York, and it's not like Steve even knew what he would say to him.

* * *

He paces, restless by the door a while longer, listening for the tell-tale whur of electrics starting up; before he gives up heading to his room. Tony was home, Tony was safe. He could at least get some sleep.

Or not.

Three hours ago, he had been on the verge of collapsing over the monitors from exhaustion, now, lying in bed sleep was proving to be elusive, his mind raced a mile a minute as it struggled to comprehend the sudden drop in his anxiety levels; closing his eyes only resulted in dancing colors filling his vision, so he stared up at the ceiling, up at nothing, refocusing his breathing and listening to the sounds of the newly rebuilt tower as it settles.

He succumbes to sleep at some point and wakes up to light streaming in through the half-open drapes. Scowling at the clock like it was lying because he's slept through what would have been his morning run.

His stomach growls in protest when he foregoes breakfast and heads straight for the gym to take out the leftover frustration on Tony's 'Super Soldier Resistant Punching Bag' and if he destroys the damn thing in the process, _so be it._

He loses track of time to the metronomic thwak of his fists against the synthetic leather.

"I thought I heard you in here, really going for it huh?" Natasha nods to him from the doorway, smoothing down the folds of her outfit and snapping her purse shut.

"You look nice," Steve says stopping the bag swinging, "off out?" He points to her all-black dress that flutters elegantly around her knees.

"An old friend's visiting," Her face warms, then drops a little, "Paying her last respects to Coulson." She says bowing her head at the somber note.

A silence pervades the space between them, broken when Steve clears his throat. "I'm sorry to hear that." It's not the right thing to say, Coulson was still in everybody's mind and Steve had often wondered who else might have been missing him.

"Some people lost more than others that day." She says letting it sink in, letting the silence creep back over them, watching Steve get truly uncomfortable and pull at the straps on his hands.

"So," She finally sighs, "what's the deal with you, Stark got under your skin?" She asks with a sly knowing smile creeping on her lips. "If you want, yesterdays' paper is in the trash. I could tear his picture out and stick it on there for you?" She gestures to the bag.

 _"Yes… No…"_ He pauses. Furrowing his brow as he processes what she's said. "Do people really do that?"

"It's very therapeutic. I have one on the dartboard in my room." She says matter of factly, "Pegged him right between the eyes, _twice._ "

Steve isn't sure whether to laugh or be terrified, he's saved by his stomach letting out a monstrous growl, reminding him that he still hadn't eaten that morning. _"Sheesh Steve,_ go get something to eat, you sound like The Hulk after Bruce has eaten a bad curry." She gives him a half wave as she leaves.

"Will do Nat." He says returning the gesturing. He throws one more punch, just to see if the damn bag will split. It swings wild at the impact before wobbling to a stop. It doesn't split, but his frustration has waned, possibly because he can feel his pulse in his knuckles, possibly because of his chat with Natasha, but he calls it for today.

* * *

It's close to 2 am when Steve is jolted awake by his subconscious; he'd been in that godforsaken valley, up to his knees in snow mixed with a mud slick, the more he struggled against it the further it pulled him down, soaking his uniform making it too heavy to move, making it feel like he was wading through setting tar. He could see Bucky lying motionless twenty yards away, he shouted until his voice was hoarse, taking step after arduous step that got him nowhere until the sharp ingress of icy wind in his lungs had him sitting up too fast, a mess of clammy skin against recirculated cool air and tangled in bedsheets.

He perches on the edge of his bed letting the last remnants of sleep ebb away, feeling the soft, plush carpet between his toes instead of the frozen soles of his boots.

Sighing, he relents to being awake and hauls himself out of bed, he's wandered the tower at night a thousand times before.

He'd found Clint snoring on the sofa in the common room once, had a conversation with Thor and discovered he struggled with the time difference between Midgard and Asgard. He'd even caught Natasha on the phone, deep in a hushed conversation that she had abruptly ended upon his intrusion and excused herself.

The tower was no stranger to night time wanderers. So, it wasn't surprising when Steve saw the faint glow of the kitchen light on from underneath the door.

There was a peaceful stillness that night, almost like the residence within and the building itself had all breathed a collective sigh of relief when Tony had returned safely the night before; not that he had been seen much since then, opting to stay locked in his workshop which gave Steve a nasty case of guilt having hounded him as soon as he got back. It's amazing what a few hours of bad sleep and reflection can throw into perspective. Tony was part of the team and his own person, with his own business, _like they all were._ It didn't stop Steve feeling a little hurt that Tony hadn't come to him for help, he thought after New York…. Well, he's not sure what he thought.

Steve trod careful, needlessly light footstep to the kitchen, he could hear whoever it was rattling around in the fridge, humming off-key to themselves until they startled at the automatic 'swoosh' of the door.

"Steve!"

"Hey, Tony." Tony was halfway through a comically large slice of leftover pizza. "How've you been?" Steve says crossing the kitchen and shooting him a tired sideward glance. The stone tiles cool and smooth beneath his bare feet are his focus, not the sudden rush of excitement mixed with trepidation that soaks his spine and settles into a tingling warmth at the base.

Tony shrugs his shoulders and rocks his head from side to side in a non-committal gesture working his jaw and swallowing his mammoth sized bite. "This wasn't yours was it?" He says frowning and holding up what was left of the crust of the pizza, hip-checking the fridge door shut before wandering over to join Steve who's picked a spot on the far side of the kitchen counter to lean.

Steve shakes his head. "Can't sleep?" He asks choosing to look down at the magnolia neutrality of the floor tiles instead of at Tony, because that rush, it will come again, the urge to hit him and kiss him all at the same time when he pulls one of his stupid stunts and leaves everybody who cares in the dark until his triumphant return.

"Something like that…" Tony lets it hang in the air between them. "You?"

"You don't have the monopoly on bad dreams Tony." It comes out all sniping and sharp edges, not how Steve intended it at all.

 _"Jeez._ See _I knew_ you were still pissed at me." Tony throws his hands high and rolls his eyes, making a point of checking his watch. "Right, it's ten minutes past two, _in the morning,_ " he steps directly in front of Steve, rolls his shoulder and braces like he's about to catch a pass from a quarterback. "Okay. I'm ready, give me the lecture." His lips quirk up at the ends, and Steve rubs the bridge of his nose.

 _"Why_ does everybody say I lecture?" He says screwing his eyes shut. "I'm not pissed at you-"

"Why do I sense there is a _'but',"_ Tony says leaning back against the counter, close enough that their legs are touching from knee to thigh. He crosses his arms and cocks his head, indulging Steve.

"Tony, you disappeared. Nick Fury nearly cast a kitten! You turned off comms, sensors, you didn't tell Pepper where you were going, she nearly bit her nails back to the knuckles for crying out loud! I was left holding the bag when we couldn't find you! _Jeez,_ JARVIS wouldn't even tell us where you were.." Steve rakes a hand through his hair. Pent-up anger mixed with a dozen other emotions he's too drained to place boils just underneath his skin, He hadn't meant to raise his voice. Tony looks back at him bewildered and blank. Steve meets his eyes for the first time. Softening his tone to reluctant exasperation. _"We're a team Tony,_ the first thing we heard was on CNN. What's going on that you can't tell us?"

Tony's shoulders stiffen under Steve's gaze and he folds his arms, glancing once at the exit towards the direction of his workshop, a glance Steve doesn't miss.

"No, _you don't."_ Steve grabs Tony's wrist. "Talk to me. If not me, talk to somebody." He feels Tony twist his arm and test his grip before he sighs.

 _"Stuff,_ Steve, it was stuff I had to take care of that's all. _Just stuff."_

"The kind of _'stuff'_ that wipes out the entire weapons supply of a suspected terrorist group over the Pacific?" Steve's jaw is set, he's wearing his best 'Captain America is going to get some answers face' and Tony shifts uncomfortably underneath it, testing the grip around his wrist once more before he sighs and goes limp.

 _"Fine._ I'm still following up on all the people who Obadiah supplied Stark weaponry to when everybody thought I was dead in the desert. _Okay?_ And we're not talking one or two pieces here and there… He's was equipping people for war." He looks down like he's ashamed. "It's not… It's not anybody else's fight. _The team_ has enough to worry about if we're going to be invaded by aliens every five minutes, and enabling terrorists isn't how I want Stark Industries thought of."

He pauses then starts to breathe heavily, a vacant expression starts to creep across his face, "that's, that's not… _That's not going to be my legacy."_ His voice rises a pitch and comes out breathless.

Steve can feel the tremors in his arm, sensitive ears can hear the frantic fluttering of his heartbeat. _"That's not what I do anymore,"_ His eyes glaze over and Steve isn't sure Tony can see him. _"I'm… I'm trying to be better."_ He almost pleads as the words start to crowd together taking his spare hand to grip Steve. _"I don't know how many more are out there, the data… the data, it was scrambled, encrypted… fuck…."_ He wheezes, and the words tumble out of his mouth unchecked by his brain with his skin going clammy and knees giving out beneath him, Steve goes down with him and they crumple on the cold kitchen floor.

The panic attack becomes absolute. Tony draws in breath after agonizing breath which Steve is forced to hear rattle and catch in his chest like his body can't remember how to exhale. "Tony, look at me. _Look at me."_ Steve pleads and catches either side of Tony's face in his hands, stops him from pulling his hair out of his scalp. _"You are better,_ just… just look at the Iron Man. I'm here Tony, just breathe with me." Steve grabs for anything that'll placate him, Tony is _so much_ better and a pang of guilt shoots through Steve because he realizes he has _no idea_ just how much Tony Stark does making up for his past.

Tears stream down Tony's cheeks and he shakes and shakes with his breathing all wrong, Steve feels like crying, the wild desperate look doesn't belong on Tony's face. He never meant for this, seeing him like this, there's a niggling voice at the back of his head that says: _'you've caused this.'_

Steve counts aloud even breaths in and out, coaxing Tony to _stay with him, look at him, he's safe here._

The words seem to bounce off him at first, like they aren't going in, but slowly, _slowly;_ Tony starts to breathe a little easier, the shaking starts to subside, he stops clawing at his chest and brings his hands up to circle Steve's wrist, keeping a loose hold.

His eyes gradually look up from under clumpy dark lashes and relief washes over Steve because they're no longer blown wide with panic. _"Thanks, Winghead."_ He croaks sounding weak and small.

"… I'm sorry, I shouldn't…" Steve trails off, suddenly all too aware of the intimate position they were in. Tony almost sat on his lap with Steve brushing his fingertips through the downy hair on his temples whilst Tony stroked his thumbs across the delicate skin on the inside of his wrists. He goes to pull away and Tony instinctively grips.

 _"Don't…"_ Tony's voice is a broken whisper. _"Can I… Can we… just stay here… Like this? Just for a minute."_ Steve has to strain to hear, that's how quiet Tony's speaking. He nods and shifts accommodating him when he leans closer.

The minute turns into ten and they sit long enough for the motion sensors to time out and leave them in darkness; Tony's warm against his side and Steve still subconsciously keeps track of his breathing in time with the repetitious ticking of the wall clock set to the background hum of the refrigerator motor.

"We should move Tony." He says, measured and careful.

"Yeah… " Tony's voice sounds more like his own again.

Steve stands and the lights flicker back to life as he blinks down. Tony holds his hand up. "Help me up? My ass has gone numb." Steve thinks he almost sees a smile as he hauls him to his feet.

Tony takes his own unsteady weight, looking like Bambi on ice as he tries to coax life back into his numb lower half. He staggers once, falters a step on legs that won't obey and ends up fetching up against Steve and shoving him back against the counter, digging it into the small of his back.

It's surprise more than anything that stops them from springing apart, they both stand there pressed together from crotch the chest, Tony leaning his full weight against Steve.

The moment protracts, the clock keeps ticking and the fridge keeps humming but neither make a move.

It's Steve who breaks it, "I should…" He says gesturing to the door around Tony whose hands still rest on his chest, warm through the thin faded cotton of his t-shirt.

"Yeah… Absolutely," Tony pushes away. His eyes dart around the kitchen, looking at anything but Steve, "I should - _early meeting._ " He fidgets picking at the hem of his t-shirt like he can't keep still.

"Thank you, for-" he waves a hand in the space between himself and Steve. "There's no need for everybody else to hear about this. I mean… _Right?"_ Tony looks up, fixed with an expression like a rabbit caught in high beams.

"Right, and err… Don't mention it." Steve sighs still bracing against the counter watching Tony shuffle off towards his workshop muttering to himself.

He doesn't exhale until the door shuts about the same time he lets his elbows give way, sliding down with his back against the counter until he's sitting in the same spot on the cold tiles he'd sat with Tony.

With one thought circling around in his head: _What the hell was that?_


	2. Chapter 2

Rain had threatened that day, it had made the air sit heavy and close against her skin. Natasha pulled her jacket tighter around her shoulders and hunched down into the collar.

The gate to the cemetery creaked on old hinges when she pushed it open; eyeing the suspicious shadows flickering unnaturally under the arcing willow that's tendril-like branches brushed the manicured turf.

"You jump at enough shadows," she shouted feeling the air around her shift and grow heavier.

"You're bound to see a few _ghosts."_ Came the reply from under the tree in the all too familiar intonation, hollow and distant like it came from all directions.

"I'm alone." She said squinting at the shifting shapes.

"I can see that." She sounded normal and close as she took a cautious step out from the shadows of the willow. Face obscured deep in the folds of an enormous hood attached to a loose-fitting jumper. "Been a while Nat." She said her wild eyes flashing a phosphorous green from the depths of the fabric.

Natasha watched her stuff her hands into the kangaroo pocket and scuff worn shoes on the grass. "You look…" She sighed taking in the twitching and eyes that darted around restlessly, the shoulders that drew up around her ears, the slight stoop in her posture in an effort to make herself smaller. Standing at least five foot eight she'd always had an inch or two on Natasha. "How've you been?" She eventually settled on.

She shrugged, rocking her head and pursing her lips. "S _urviving_." She said snorting dirty laughter. "When I ran from SHIELD life wasn't about _living_ anymore. It was about _surviving_." She kicked at the grass again and peeked out at her. "I saw all the fancy new helicarriers get shot out the sky on CNN… Then, I get a phone call from you out of the blue. I call coincidence on that." She fixed Natasha with her enquiring eyes. "You didn't call me out here to show me where Coulson's buried." Natasha watched her push the hood back slightly the familiar swathe of short brunette hair falling around her face in an ebony curtain. "Spill it, what d'you want? And no Widow tactics," she said pointing a finger, "I've known you too long for that, I see through it."

"There's no getting one around you." She said shaking her head like a disapproving mother and stepping close enough to slip an arm through her companion's joining them at the elbow, "come on, it's this way, we'll walk and talk." Natasha felt the initial resistance of the person on her arm give as she fell into step next to her. " _I might need a favor._ "

"I knew it," she huffed but Natasha could see she was smiling. Cocking her head sideways and rolling her tongue in her mouth like she might be considering it, she squinted her eyes accusingly, "If it's something _you_ can't do then it's gotta be difficult."

"I need a file," She said her tone kept flat and lowering her voice in case the dead had ears. " _The Winter Soldier file_." She felt her companions step falter, saw the flinch of her hand out the corner of her eye as it shot up to paw at her neck subconsciously.

They kept walking, the distant rumble of the imminent rain audible above the rustle of the trees in the wind. "Nat, _that's a tall order_."

"There's something in there for you too. _Your_ file's in the same archive facility."

"How d'you know that?" They catch each other's eye briefly.

"You're not my _only_ contact."

"Ah _, I see_." She drawled deliberately, " _One_ person feeds you the information and _I do the dirty work_."

Natasha paused and stepped around to face her gripping her on both shoulders. Squeezing her until she looked up, a storm brewing in her wild eyes, "you wanted answers years ago. _Get them_ , before they go public; _SHIELD can't protect them anymore."_

Natasha watched her turn away shrugging off her grip to rub at the back of her neck, her hand disappearing inside the hood. "Is that because SHIELD doesn't _exist_ anymore? I think there's irony in there somewhere. I escaped HYDRA just for them to pull me back in as SHIELD…" She squinted up at the sky. The faintest spots of rain starting to fall, small inoffensive splotches that settled onto her clothes before soaking in. "I dunno Nat, maybe there are things I don't want to find out; like you said, it was _years_ ago. I am what I am, knowing won't change that, and what's this with _The Winter Soldier_?" Nat heard her exhale a long-measured breath, her hand touching her neck again. "Maybe there are things _you_ don't want to find out." She watched her shuffle a few steps and stop in front of a newly positioned headstone of polished black marble and gold inlay.

"Maybe there are things that it's _time_ you found out, _that we all found out_." She said as she joined her at the grave site looking down in a solemn silence.

It protracted as they both read and re-read the golden text. Natasha growing impatient for an answer as her heels started to sink in the ground.

Her companion cleared her throat abruptly. "If I do this," She hesitated, only slightly, but Natasha picked it up and looked around to find herself under her scrutiny. "Y _ou'll owe me_." the intensity of her glare making her eyes look like they burnt brighter than spectral fires.

"I'll owe you." She nodded. " _I'll have red on my ledger for you_."

"My God Nat, you make us sound _boring_ , like accountants." Her companion rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I knew you didn't call me here just to look at an empty grave." Natasha could hear the resignation of laughter in her voice as she pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose.

"So, it's a _yes_? You'll do it?"

"I'll do it, Nat, _for you_."

"It's so I can do right by somebody else." She ventured as they both stood staring at the headstone in silence. "How did _you_ know it was empty?"

"Death has a weird frequency. I can feel it in this place, but it's not coming from here." She pointed down at the settling earth, "S'just dirt." Natasha caught her arm as she turned away with a sigh, "I miss our team, you all went off to be fancy pants Avengers." She said as they started away from the cemetery. "How's Clint?"

"Got possessed and I had to hit him over the head." Natasha laughed.

"What I would have given to have seen _that_."

* * *

Steve overhears the phone call by accident. Oversensitive hearing meant you couldn't exactly stick your fingers in your ears and go _'la la la…'_ to avoid listening to something.

It took him months to get used to after the serum, he'd spent his entire life up until that point being half-deaf and suddenly it was like somebody had switched the volume up too loud, _permanently_. It meant that he tuned into most sounds background or otherwise without realizing; it also meant that Steve could recognize the people he spent a lot of time with by their footfall or certain noises they made out of habit.

Bruce was easy to recognize, when he wasn't big, mean and green he seemed to suffer from every allergy under the sun and had a habit of sniveling. Natasha was difficult, she had light footsteps to the point where she had managed to make Steve jump on occasions. Then there was Tony, and Steve _hated_ to admit it, but Tony's sure stride always made his nerves jump and his stomach bottom out, Steve knew that Tony had a habit of whistling or muttering to himself depending on his mood and he had a guilty habit of his own listening for him a little more often than the others.

He could hear Tony whistling all the way up from his workshop, it had been a couple of days since the kitchen, which meant a couple of days of Steve stealing glances at him when he wasn't looking, hanging back after meetings hoping that they might talk and Tony inevitably making any excuse to avoid him. Steve waits in an alcove of a doorframe practicing his impression of nonchalance so that they can pass each other without incident when the whistling is cut off by the high pitch ring of a cell phone.

His ears prick on instinct. "Hi Pep. I'm on my way t-" Tony's overly-chirpy-everything's-fine-act is cut off by Pepper on the other end. He hears Tony stutter to get a word in. "Yeah, Bu-"

Then everything goes eerily quiet, the back of Steve's neck prickles and he hears Tony draw in a long steady breath. "Do they know who it was?" There's a pause when Pepper answers. "Was anybody hurt? No? _That's something_." There's an even longer pause when nobody's speaking; Steve holds his breath. "What did they take?" Tony asks in a low, brittle whisper. "Right, yes. I'll… I'll review the footage. _I don't know_ … It was just an old dusty warehouse; low risk but it still had cameras." Steve hears the call end and guiltily steps into view.

Tony's staring down at the phone and gripping it in a white-knuckled fist, he looks up at Steve with the same wild expression he had in the kitchen. "Everything all right Tony?" He asks cautiously approaching with one hand out like he is taming a wild animal.

"Somebody broke into one of Da- _Howard's_ storage warehouses last night." Tony blinks at him. "The one upstate. They took down all the security staff, granted there's not many in the facility – it was for storage I've never cataloged what was in there. Hell, _I forgot it existed_." Tony's waffling, he's not even looking at Steve anymore. "They didn't hurt anybody though, I've gotta get down there." He turns and disappears before Steve can stop him.

* * *

Tony's not home by the time Steve decides to call it a night; the remainder of the day had been spent overlooking the witness reports from the security staff that Pepper had sent over. All the reports were consistent but vague, everybody interviewed gave the same story, they had seen something out the corner of their eye, but couldn't be sure, then nothing-they had woken up a few hours later with a bad headache and a ringing in the ears. Natasha had sat with him for a bit to frown over the reports but was oddly unhelpful and dismissal of Steve's theories.

It leaves a bad taste in his mouth, and it's enough to make Steve restless, falling into a bad sleep that's plagued with flashing images mixed up with memories; he can hear Bucky again, screaming this time, but he's in a labyrinth of corridors made from filing cabinets the locks warped and broken like the ones in Howard's warehouse. He skids around corners on his bare feet shouting: _"Hold on Buck! I'm coming for you!"_ Only to have it lost in his throat. It has him waking up at 2 am, like clockwork, downing the water that's on his sideboard and wondering what it all meant. The whole Bucky/Winter Soldier situation was still raw, and he really wasn't ready to talk about it with the team.

Once again, he resigns himself to being awake and he's hardly surprised to find the light on in the kitchen, even less surprised at who he finds in there.

Tony's perched on a bar stool at the counter, deep tired lines on his face where he's frowning at something playing on his tablet. He glances up raising his eyebrows at Steve when he trudges miserably into the kitchen.

"Hey, Tony-"

" _I'm fine_ ," Tony says abruptly dropping his tablet with a _thwack_. He looks down once then fixes Steve with an ice-cold glare.

Steve blinks belatedly at him, "What?"

"I said, _I'm fine._ You were going to ask me how I am and I'm answering, _I'm fine_." Tony folds his arms and stares off to the side rocking his jaw likes he's chewing on his anger.

Steve puts his hands up in a sign of defense. "OK," then he sees it; the empty tumbler, a few brown dregs settled at the bottom and the empty bottle of scotch in the trash. He makes it to the sink and keeps his back to Tony whilst he fills a glass from the tap.

When he turns Tony's looking at him, Steve keeps his movements slow and fluid, his bare feet sticking on the tiles. "Are you really fine Tony?" He says looking down at the glass in his hands, rolling it in his palms.

"I wanna know how they did it." Tony blurts slamming his flat hands down onto the counter, "I wanna know what they took and _why_ they took it." He gestures at his tablet with a clumsy hand that nearly knocks the tumbler flying. "This footage? Useless, all fuzzy black edges and a few _useless_ security guards going down." He flips the device up in his hands holding it closer than needed to Steve's face, it shows a still, a dull black outline of a person, soft and blurred like when a camera catches movement. "Somebody is _fucking_ with me Steve."

The whole scene depicted is unsettling, something about it creeps at the back of Steve's neck and makes the hairs stand on end. A few downed security staff that look stone dead on the floor in-between an endless sea of filing cabinets. They weren't dead, oddly nobody had been badly hurt. There were so many variables that didn't quite add up enough to make sense, and the whole situation had put Steve and Tony back on the same insomnia cycle.

He gently pushes the tablet down, setting the water next to Tony on the counter who eye's it warily. "When was the last time you got any decent sleep?" He says too exasperated to dance around the subject.

Tony looks genuinely thoughtful for a moment before he scowls. "What was it you said? _You don't have the monopoly on bad dreams_." Tony would almost look smug if his eyelids didn't droop when he looks up at Steve waiting for his reaction.

"OK, I deserve that." He says hands on hips, "drink your water Tony." Steve watches as Tony's hand carefully takes the glass and brings it to his mouth.

He sets it back down, his lips shining under the bright fluorescents. "You wanna go to bed willingly, or should I drag you kicking and screaming?" Steve says, folding his arms and watching Tony's huff like a petulant child.

"You're never happy, are you? You wanted me to talk… _I'm talking_. Somebody managed to outsmart Stark Tech security systems and _I'm worried_. I've had _enough_ enemies crawl out the woodwork. And now you're sending me to bed?" He points accusingly at Steve, _"You're worried_. Why else would you be awake?"

"I'm worried about _you_ ," Steve says a little louder than he means to and raking a hand through his hair. "I'm happy that you're talking, but this." He waves hand from the tablet to the tumbler then to Tony, "This isn't going to help the situation." He pauses long enough to give Tony a pained expression. "Look there's a team investigating, we won't know anything until morning, and drinking is not going to help. Jesus Tony, I sat with you whilst you had a _panic attack_ last week. You need to _stop_ with the self-destruct act."

Tony goes quiet, dropping his shoulders and leaning on an upturned palm. He draws a pattern on the worktop from the condensation of his glass muttering, "Because you're so perfect," and pulling a face.

"I heard that." Steve pauses. "It'll be kicking and screaming in a minute, I don't care if I wake the whole tower, you're going to get some sleep." He steps closer to Tony around the counter.

"Alright, _alright…_ " Tony says hastily and gets up. "I'm going OK." Steve watches him hold his hands up like he's walking towards armed police.

Then it all happens before Steve can make sense of it.

Tony catches his foot and stumbles with a muffled, _"Shit..."_ The bar stool rocks but doesn't fall and Steve finds himself pinned back against the counter again holding Tony up at the shoulders.

He counts a full sixty seconds of the wall clock ticking whilst they stand there, "You alright?" He says, breathless where Tony landed on him but not loosening his grip.

"Yeah, I, caught my foot… I guess." It's like last week, only Tony's more pliant and leaning on him like a soft weight, the scotch has made his whole-body loose.

"Tony," Steve clears his throat all too aware of the heat that was coming off the body plastered against his, "You should…" The _'move'_ is on the tip of his tongue when Tony shifts his weight clumsily from one leg to the other pressing himself closer. Steve sucks in air through his teeth.

"I shouldn't…" Tony says not budging an inch, his voice thick and low. Steve feels the vibration of him speaking through his chest. His fingertips resting lightly on the fabric of Steve's worn t-shirt tickling as much as it thrills and stirring up some dormant animal part of him.

They're pressed together so close he can't exactly hide what's quivering in his pants. He tries to tell himself it's a perfectly natural reaction to touch… _for a teenager…_

" _Tony,"_ he gasps, it barely comes out as a whisper over the hum of the refrigerator motor when Tony smirks and tentatively bucks his hips. Pressing Steve further back into the counter driving the hard edge into the small of his back. Steve squeezes his eyes shut because _this_ should not be happening.

His hands that hold Tony by the shoulders slide down the hard lines of his ribs, _slowly_ , like he shouldn't be touching. His whole body is lean muscle wrapped in a flimsy t-shirt and sweats, and he flinches, a soft moan escaping his parted lips. Steve's hands wander lower to his hips and he uses them like handles, pushing and pulling in time with Tony's careful measured movements.

Tony gets a little bolder, leans further into the inches of space between them, _"Tell me to stop,"_ he whispers testing the air before he's close enough to catch his teeth on the skin behind Steve's ear.

What Steve means to say is: _'Tony, stop. This isn't what you need right now.'_ He can hear it in his head, he can also hear Tony panting in his ear, spliced with the pop and suck every time he draws back from his skin. So, what comes out is some guttural grunt as his head lolls to the side offering more.

Steve should be pushing him away, _it would be easy_ , hands to the shoulders, push, done, over-finished-nothing getting out of hand. But Tony smells of scotch-he's making a bad decision, Steve knows he's no better for letting him do it; his blood rushes South and his hands won't let go of Tony's hips because he started something, and now his dick is straining in his pants and Tony's giving him that rough, _sweet_ fiction with each upward push.

" _Tell me to stop_ ," Tony says again, it's like a dare, his voice shakily breathless, like he's not in control anymore as he shoves a hand underneath the waistband of Steve's shorts; and he knows anything Tony finds in there is going to tell him the opposite.

All Steve can manage is a whimper when Tony squeezes his hand around his cock. The angle's awkward but Tony's dextrous wrist pivots, twists and strokes all the way down to the base.

Steve keeps his eyes clamped shut, gripping Tony's hips in white knuckles, the fabric of his sweats bunched up in his fists. He could rip them off, a part of him wants to. Casually tear them at the seams and kick them away, just to see the look on Tony's face. _'Sorry, Tony. Were those designer? Well, they_ _ **had**_ _to go…'_ Subconsciously he must have pulled at them because there's shuffling and movement, the hand disappears, Steve instinctively follows it lurching forward off the counter.

" _Stay,"_ Tony says almost as breathless as he is, pushing him back with the flat of his palm, fumbling with his pants like he can't remember how an elastic waistband works, Steve can't stand it, can't control himself and paws at the fabric until they end up pooled at Tony's feet.

He braces on the counter when Tony slots back against him, straddling his thigh, resting something hard and hot just above his right knee. He watches Tony shut his eyes, flinch and grunt like the pressure is too much as he settles himself. It makes his stomach jump with nervous anticipation, he's still torn; half wanting to push Tony away and send him on his way to his own bed and never mention this again, half wanting to drag him back to his room and show him that the virtuous Captain America wasn't the morally righteous boy scout they all thought he was.

Steve feels himself blush, from his ears right the way to his toes. It doesn't go unnoticed and Tony groans. _"My God Steve, you're killing me."_ He bites his lip as he says it, suddenly the cool kitchen feels too hot as fingers seek out Steve's cock underneath the light fabric of his shorts.

Tony sets a rhythm that's rough and frantic, pushing Steve further back into the counter resting his head and gasping into Steve's chest as he bucks his hips working up friction of his own against his solid thigh.

Tony's wrist moves in sharp twists, dragging his hand along the taught velvet skin. He pushes his thumb against the tip and feels it give, Steve curls in on himself gulping in air as his hand slips where it was gripping the counter and has a _'fuck it'_ moment, grabs a hand full of the meat on Tony's ass, _"Christ,"_ He hears him say through grit teeth as he starts to fall out of rhythm.

Steve can feel it, the pressure building, the sudden loss of any higher brain power as his balls jump up closer to his body, he doesn't need to know how to breathe, or talk, because he's gonna come, all over Tony's hand probably, in the middle of the communal kitchen. He curls his toes against the smooth tiles on the kitchen floor.

The fridge motor that's been humming the whole time unexpectedly cuts out. Steve hadn't even realized he had tuned into it but suddenly the only sound in the kitchen is the breathy gasping of unadulterated pleasure scattered with Tony's casual blasphemy and swearing.

" _Steve, dammit. I think I'm gonna-"_ Tony's cut off by the shrill piercing ring of a cell phone.

Steve freezes.

Tony freezes, looking up at him, his mouth open and his eyes wide in an expression of pure pain.

" _It's my cell phone,"_ he squeaks.

" _What?"_ Is all Steve manages to answer, his brain mush because it was expecting an orgasm and instead it's like being doused with ice water. They stand frozen whilst the cell builds volume, _"Tony shut it off, it's gonna wake everybody up."_ Tony's hand disappears, all Steve can think is _'no'_ as he watches him rummage in the pocket of his discarded pants, he looks sweaty and flustered with a wet spot on the front of his boxers where he was about to go off like a champagne cork.

"S'Pepper." He says looking up guiltily. He holds the phone in his hands like he can't work the damn thing.

" _Answer it Tony_ ," Steve says wiping a hand over his face, drawing in breath after ragged breath, trying to ignore his cock that's harder than it had ever been and throbbing where it's trapped against his stomach by the waistband of his shorts.

"Pepper…." Tony chirps, eyes darting to Steve as they trade awkward glances. "Me? I was… working out, couldn't sleep, thought it would help." Tony's bringing his breathing under control as he shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot. He goes quiet and Steve can hear Pepper on the other end.

He watches as Tony's brow furrows and he starts to pace. Steve has no idea how he's walking around, he's still there dumbstruck and dazed against the kitchen counter because it's the only thing holding him up. "Some files? Do we know what was in them? Right. Yeah, of course, it's late. No. We'll deal with it tomorrow." He hangs up the phone without a goodbye.

"Everything alright Tony?" Steve asks, and it manages to come out halfway normal.

"They took two highly classified SHIELD files and rifled through half a dozen others," Tony says ringing his sweats he still held in his hand and staring down at the phone.

" _Classified files_?" Steve says sensing the shift in mood that signaled the end of whatever they were trying to achieve here, "What are SHIELD files doing in a warehouse belonging to Howard?" He looks over at Tony whose expression is waxy and pale.

"Howard was a founder, and he had _a lot_ of storage warehouses. I guess, these were too high security to be kept at headquarters." He paused haphazardly stuffing his pants back on. "I suppose if _they were_ kept there, they would have been destroyed like everything else. As it happens- _they weren't…_ Now some unidentifiable scumbag's got their hands on them." Steve catches the sarcastic grin on his face. "If I knew… I mean… They could be anything- _weapons_ _schematics_ , dear old Dad was fond of designing war machines," Tony's face drops, and he looks to Steve in a panic, "what if that's where he kept the _really_ dangerous stuff?"

"They might be _nothing_ , Tony." Steve does the only thing he can do, accepts that their tryst was over and tries to be a tether that's going to keep Tony grounded. "Look, there is nothing we can do _right_ now." He rakes a hand in his hair and it comes away sweaty, glancing around for something that going to appease him; spotting the tablet that was abandoned, "I'll watch the footage with you. _Once_ ," he stresses, "then we call it a night. Got it?" Steve does his best to ignore his body screaming at him to finish what he started, he half wishes he'd suggested a cold shower before there's any more detective work.

"OK, could use an extra pair of eyes, you might see something I missed," Tony says quietly and lets himself be steered out of the kitchen and into the large TV room adjacent.

* * *

Natasha cautiously peers around the kitchen door. It was close to five in the morning and the light that's coming from under the door was unwelcome. She hadn't factored anybody else into the equation.

She breathes a sigh of relief on finding it empty but still tiptoes through, her skin alive to any shift in the air that could mean she wasn't alone. She pauses when passing the TV room. Somebody was snoring, it was Steve stretched out from the corner of the couch, with one hand resting across his chest and the other wrapped protectively around Tony who was curled into his side scrunching his face up in his sleep and clinging to him. "I could have told you _that_ was going to happen." She murmurs quietly letting herself out onto the fire escape.

The day hasn't quite broken over New York and it casts the street far below in an eerie orange glow. The small flip phone she has flashes as it proudly displayed that it has found a signal. "She's going to hate me for calling this early." Natasha bites her lip as she dials.

It rings for a good thirty seconds before a groggy voice answers. _"Naaat,"_ It whines, reverberating down the speaker, "It's _early_."

"And I haven't heard from you in over twenty-four hours, comms weren't dark on this one, you were supposed to call yesterday."

"OK, _my bad,_ " There was a shuffling, what sounded like a rifling of papers followed by a clearing of the throat. "I got waylaid-" the response was cut off by a sleepy yawn, "But it's all here, what you wanted, _as promised_."

"Thank you, I was getting worried… Did you find what _you_ wanted?" The line goes deadly silent and Natasha wonders if the other person has hung up. Until she hears the faint intake of breath.

"Yeah, yeah… It was there…" There's a silence.

" _But?_ " Natasha prompts.

A sigh comes from the other end. " _But_ , there's more redactions in it than something out of Area 51. Half of it doesn't make sense." There's more shuffling, more papers get moved. "I _did_ get a chance to have a mooch around some other stuff whilst I was there. _Did you know_ Steve Rogers' middle name is Grant?"

"What has that got to do with anything?" Natasha says and finds herself smiling.

"I _dunno_ , just made me feel a little better about my crappy middle name, that's all." Natasha hears her snigger and she rolls her eyes.

"Whatever works for you. I'll call you tomorrow, we'll arrange the transfer," She pauses before adding, "one more thing-your little stunt _getting caught on the cameras_ has sent Tony Stark into a meltdown."

"Yesss," She can almost hear the fist bump that comes from the other end. "How many points is that worth?"

"None! _It cruel,_ he's a friend."

"He never used to be," She laughs, "You used to call him- _'a hyperactive man-child you had to babysit.'_ You've changed Nat."

"I'm hanging up now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"You were the one that woke me up, _I_ should have hung up on you ten minutes ago." Natasha ends the call with a smile on her face and silently makes her way back to her room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Notes: Firstly apologies for how long this has taken to update (life has been incredibly busy), aannnd for the fact it is now 5 chapters long instead of 3! Whoops!**

 **So a bit more character development, world building, plot development etc... Not much smut (sorry! - Chapter 4 for sure! Which I hasten to add is under construction ;))**

 **Going with the idea that Steve hasn't worked out Bucky killed Tony's parents yet, just in case there was any confusion. Enjoy guys! :)**

* * *

The moment the door closes behind her Natasha knew she was screwed, the intended stealth mission back to her room went out the window and smashed on the street below when she snuck back in from the fire escape and came face to face with Steve, and shield or no shield the guy cut an intimidating figure when he stretched up to his full height and puffed his chest out so he was as wide as he was tall.

She instinctively shrinks back wondering if he was going to fall for her beguiling, feigning innocents she clutches the phone to her chest and smiles, "Morning Steve, up early?"

"A little breezy to be taking telephone calls out on the fire escape Nat," he points with his eyes, the rest of his face immoveable and screwed up like scrap metal.

 _How much did you hear?_

"What's going on Nat?" He says taking a step forward invading her space, backing her further into the corner. "You know something," He points an accusing finger to the phone, "Tony's nearly had an aneurysm over this." Everything about him screeches 'coiled spring'. From the way he flares his nostrils to the way he's subconsciously balling his hands into fists at his side.

Natasha rolled her eyes and let her shoulders relax, " _Come on Steve_ , stop pulling the raging bull impression." She glances around before continuing, " _Look_ , I had to call in a favor to get you your precious file." Her voice drops to a harsh whisper, her eyes continually darting down the empty corridor and then back to Steve because she was acutely aware that Tony had been, _and probably still was_ , curled on the sofa a few doors down.

"Bucky's file?" Steve deflates like he's been punched in the gut, "That's what was taken?" Natasha nods when he looks up eyes wide in disbelief, "Why couldn't you just have _asked_ Tony for it?"

"If you remember Steve, SHIELD _fell_ along with those Helicarriers, everything pertaining to SHIELD was seized, including, but not limited to-" Natasha paused for effect "-everything that was in that warehouse. It may have been Tony's property, but they were under Government control awaiting an emergency sort and destroy." Steve's face goes grey. "So, _no_ , Steve. I couldn't just have _asked_ Tony for them."

"That's not you in the video." He says for want of anything better.

"No."

"Who is it?" He asks quietly, not looking up from where he's fixed his eyes to his feet. Natasha has no doubt he's processing his Tony guilt at being the latest cause of his distress.

"A friend. Somebody I trust with my life." She looks for a reaction. "I'm going to get the file tomorrow." Steve nods.

"I'll come with you-"

" _No._ You won't." Steve looks up, hurt and anger twitches in the muscles of his clenched jaw. Natasha plants her hands on her hips with an air of finality.

 _I'm not budging on this._

"I can't just leave this alone Nat. It's… _It's Bucky…"_

"That's exactly _why_ you have to leave this alone. There's too much emotion there. I think the whole tower has heard you not sleeping." Steve glances away with a blush coloring his cheeks, confirming her suspicions that something was going on between him and Tony in the wee hours. She chooses her next words carefully, "You don't have to say anything to him you know, _technically-_ you're not involved in this."

Steve sighs, "I've never been much of a liar," he goes to put his hands in his pockets and suddenly remember he's standing in his shorts, "I really should…" He trails off.

Natasha entertains the silence for a while watching Steve shift his weight from foot to foot and ring his hands, "Right, well I'll catch up with you later." She makes her move to leave, Steve's fidgeting creating a gap large enough for her to slip past.

"Nat, take Sam with you?" He stops her with a firm grip on her arm.

"Steve, I can't-"

 _"Please,"_

* * *

Steve stands alone in the corridor reeling from the wake of his conversation with Natasha. Clenching his hands to fists out of nervous-frustrated habit, because it came back to Bucky. It always came back to Bucky and now there was someone else involved.

A shadowy-friend-of-Natasha's someone else who'd managed to gouge and claw their way into several highly classified storage cabinets, leaving behind nothing but broken locks and blur on a CCTV camera.

And now Steve knew. And Tony didn't.

He made his way back to the TV room relieved to see that Tony was still curled on the sofa where he had left him, only he's nestled further into the warm spot that Steve had left behind with his hands tucked under his cheek, he shifts and groans in his sleep. And it shouldn't, _oh god it shouldn't_. But that noise the rough-gravelly sound pitches straight to the recesses of Steve's brain that was still churning over the event in the kitchen and throws it back into sharp focus, when Tony's rough fingertips had been pressing against the vein that ran along the underside of his cock and he'd been rubbing himself off against Steve's thigh.

Steve can't stop the unexpected rush of air that escapes his lungs and the sudden urge that shoots down his body making him double over and dash to his room.

He ends up in gasping in the shower.

He's so keyed up that all it takes is three firm strokes and he's coming, shuddering and gritting his teeth under the spray, curling his toes against the unyielding floor and throwing a hand out against the wall to steady himself as guilt, confusion and pleasure slip down the tiles in great splotches of white.

He stays there until his skin is flushed pink from the heat and his fingertips have started to crease. The sun is well and truly up by the time he's regained some semblance of control and ventured out into the common areas.

Natasha's long gone and he's relieved, guilty and a little bit empty to find that Tony is nowhere to be seen.

* * *

The yellow cab pulls off Hunts Point Avenue and heads East along Garrison. "Anywhere along here is fine," Natasha says smiling at an apprehensive Sam as she addresses the cab driver. He nods and pulls the vehicle to a stop on the corner of Falite Street.

The driver flashes a thumbs up out the window as he departs leaving Natasha and Sam standing outside a garish Mexican grocery store. They're close enough to the railway tracks that when a loaded freight train rattles past it shakes the ground under their feet.

"So, this is the place?" Sam looks up skyward to the dull apartment block sat atop the store in fifty shades of brown.

Natasha follows Sam's gaze. The whole place is oppressive, looming over them and cutting a solid block out of the horizon. Unnecessarily complicated and messy electrical cables span the whole length of the street hanging overhead like mesh wire that's going to fall down on top of them. Natasha sees him shudder and stuff his hands into his pockets. "This is the place."

She leads him to a back entrance through a set of peeling black metal gates and past an enormous mound of trash. She's not surprised to find the back fire escape door hanging off its hinges at an angle.

"No lift," Sam observes as they both politely play the 'let's ignore the smell of piss in the stairwell' game whilst they ascend.

"What did you expect?"

"Honestly? _I have no idea_. I had Steve telling me you needed a partner to go pick up something from somebody… _Ok, that was a lie_. Steve said 'chaperone.'" Natasha rolls her eyes, "Then I find myself in the Bronx with you trying not to breathe the air in a stairwell that smells like cat pee, _or worse_." He huffs. " _This_ is _not_ how I saw my day panning out. I mean, I'm not sure I can hold my breath all the way to the top floor." Natasha looks behind her, Sam was smiling his gap-toothed grin and shaking his head. "You know Cap didn't tell me what we were going to get… I mean it doesn't matter, I'm up for heavy lifting and all that. I just don't know why you need me here?"

"I don't," She hears Sam pause behind her.

"Ouch,"

" _Steve_ needs you here, he gave me the puppy dog eyes," She throws him a glance over her shoulder, "Steve can't leave well enough alone where _Bucky_ is concerned, that's why you're here. Trust me, I would _much_ rather have done this alone."

"Wait… Did you say _'Bucky'?"_ Sam freezes behind her, "Not that dude, I'm all for heavy lifting _, but no way_ ," he says shaking his head and waving his arms in front of him, "I'm out, done…" He turns, about to bolt down the stairs.

" _Relax_ , it's not him. Something to do with him, _yes_. But not him, come on, we're meeting an old friend." She gives Sam a 'hurry up' gesture and he glances once back at the stairwell below then back up at her.

He catches up with her a flight or two later, albeit reluctantly, "So, this 'old friend'," he says making air quotes, "Are we talking _KGB_ old friend, or.." He trails off hopefully.

"A _SHIELD_ old friend," she says thinking of the _best_ way to give the _least_ information about her ex-colleague, "There is, _something_ you need to know." Natasha pauses in the middle of a flight of stairs four floors to go before the top. "She's not… that's to say… She's," Natasha always struggled with the right words on how to describe Ilona, "She's not _like_ you and me. If anything, _weird_ happens, just go with it… _Ok?_ "

Sam looks up at her quizzically and laughs, "Ok."

Apart from the occasional snort of laughter from Sam at the juvenile graffiti that covers the walls, they walk the rest of the stairwell in silence. When they arrive, the top floor's no better than the rest, no windows, a singular fluorescent strip light hanging awkwardly off the ceiling and insistently blinking on and off. It wouldn't have provided enough light for the whole corridor even if it _had_ been functional.

"Did your friend say which number it was?" Sam hovers behind her looking from one end of the corridor to the other.

There are three front doors lined up like ignition coils to choose from each one looking about as derelict as the next, "That part she left out…" Natasha reaches for the flip phone in her pocket. Her hand freezes and Sam's eyes go wide when the air shifts and goes heavy, vibrations rumble through the floor beneath their feet, like a distant engine firing up and a voice echoes around seemingly coming from nowhere and everywhere all at once.

"You're late, _and_ you're not alone," it says, "Do we trust?" Natasha presses her hand to her chest where the sound reverberates through her ribcage.

"We trust," her response is met by silence, but the tremors beneath her feet tell she's been heard.

There a sigh, a rumble of bass notes like ripples through the air. "Well, any friend of yours _is a friend of mine_. You had best come in then…" The furthest door opens cautiously and the vibrations abruptly cut off. Sam looks like he's ready to sprint back down the stairs and keep it up all the way back to Manhattan. He'd been training with Steve, Natasha wouldn't put it passed him.

He hisses in her ear, "I'm guessing the _'weird'_ thing about your friend _isn't_ that she's British?"

She flashes him the 'just roll with it' look beckoning him to keep close as they step over the threshold.

They enter a hallway-come-foyer, it's clean enough. A few ominous stains mark the cream threadbare carpet and the wallpaper is peeling in places. There's a welcome rush of fresh air that comes in through the open door at the end of the hall where Ilona stands peering at them.

It's the first time in a long time that Natasha has seen her in anything other than loose clothes, she stands in shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt the pale skin on her long limbs making her look almost wraithlike. "Hi Nat," she makes a show of draping her arms across herself looking around Natasha to address Sam, "Hello,"

She waves for them to both come into the room she's in. It's light and airy with the same carpet as the hall and the same peeling wallpaper, but the large windows are all thrown open on their hinges and at this height, the air is clear from the pollution of the streets.

She saunters over to a desk positioned in front of one of the windows. Natasha glances over at Sam whose busy giving one of the largest dog beds that she has ever seen a cautious appraisal.

"This is what you wanted," Ilona says dropping a weathered manilla file onto the desk, a few stray photos spread out and slide along the worn leather surface of the desk.

Natasha leans over to look.

"So," Ilona asks expectantly, "what do you think of the place?" She gestures wide with her arms and splays her hands.

"It's… _Something_ ," Sam responds; Natasha sees him out the corner of her eye giving the dog bed and Ilona a wide berth. Natasha was used to it, Ilona's presence always had a way of making people uneasy, like the air fidgeted around her, even more so when her emotions were heightened.

Bringing Sam may have been a bad idea.

"You have a dog?" Natasha asks glancing nervously at Ilona as she picks up a black and white print from the table. It was a diffusion tactic, _distraction_.

It works, the air crackles like disbursing static before it settles, "No. Skippy's _not_ a dog," she sounds almost offended. "He's an _Apocryphal Metatheria_ I busted out of a Foundation facility when I took the…." Natasha looks at her and she trails off, smiling sheepishly. "You know what? _It's not important_. You came for this anyway." She gestures to the file that Natasha has spread out on the desk.

"What do you make of this?" Natasha passes a print to Sam, it's high quality taken within the last ten years at least, "there are chains on the _floor_ ," she says. The picture, the one currently making Natasha's stomach knot, is of the cells at the Hydra facility documented when the base was found empty and destroyed.

Sam twists it this way and that, scratches his head, looks at the lettering on the manilla file and asks, "How did you get this?"

"I was part of a covert mission to obtain certain sensitive goods before they could be made available to the public," Ilona smirks in Natasha's direction, the lilt of her accent almost made theft sound honorable.

"You stole it?"

"On Nat's orders," she holds up three fingers like a scout salute, "once a Shadow Agent, _always_ a Shadow Agent," she says to the ceiling before looking back at Sam and shrugging, "besides, if we all existed within the realms of legality, it would be a _very_ dull existence indeed."

Sam flashes Natasha an: 'I can't believe this' look, raising his eyebrows and going back to study the photo in his hands, "they kept him in chains… That's barbaric"

"Not all the time," they both turn to look back at Ilona. She makes a 'gimmie' gesture for the photograph, "That's not where they kept him, he was here," she points to the cell disappearing out of shot. "This one-" she says tapping where the chains meet the floor, Natasha already knew what she was going to say, "-This one was _mine_."

* * *

"What do you think Skip?" Ilona turns to the enormous creature that walks up next to her and noses his armored head under her free hand. She scratches the smooth leather-like plates of skin with her fingertips and he shivers and arches his back.

"He's out there again…. The one I told you about, shall we find him before they do?" Ilona watches Natasha and Sam disappear into a yellow cab, then crouches to be at eye level with her creature. He rumbles and she reaches for the pendant she keeps around her neck, pulling it out from where it rested in the dip of her chest warmed by her skin. It's a titanium surgical pin, about two inches in length and tapered to a blunt point, its surface polished and machine perfect as it reflects the light coming in from the open window.

"Besides, I have something that belongs to him," she strikes the pin on the edge of the desk closing one eye and tilting her head to the side to catch the frequency it resonates at. Skippy twitches his large elongated ears and does the same.

"He always did make a _very_ unique sound,"

* * *

Tony was lost in his thoughts over-tightening a screw on the chest plate of the mark 46, his heart's not really in it. He wasn't sure what was more embarrassing, what he was coming to refer to as _'the kitchen incident'_ or waking up alone in the TV room with a stinking hangover having been ditched after _said incident_. His memory of it was, _a little_ hazy and this horrible niggling thought kept creeping back in his head.

 _Steve had kind of been into it…_

"Stop thinking like that," he says, chastising himself aloud, jumping when Pepper responds.

"Like what?" She clicks across the workshop floor in a pair of dangerous looking heels giving him a quizzical look, "You're not answering your phone, I thought I would bring you the good news. _Firstly_ you never removed my override access to your workshop door, _secondly,_ " she waves a manilla file back and forth before dropping it onto the desk in front of him, "We've found out what was taken." She flips the file open.

Tony looks on dumbstruck still clutching the screwdriver in his hand as she continues, "An old SHIELD case file for _'The Winter Soldier'_ aka James Barnes," she hesitates before continuing, not meeting Tony's eyes, "and an old SHIELD personnel file belonging to one 'Miss Ilona Warner',"

"The Winter Soldier? _James Barnes… The one Cap's looking for?"_

Pepper looks at him little uncertain, "I think so-"

"No weapon blue-prints missing, no trade secrets snatched?"

"No, Howard's filing system was a little antiquated _and manual_ compared to what I'm used to, but everything else was accounted for-"

"You think it might be Hydra?"

"What? Tony, listen there's something important I need to tell you. The team that was cataloging the files found something… something important… _Are you listening to me?"_ Tony startles at the hand Pepper waves in front of his glazed eyes. Snapping to attention.

"Pepper, what would I do without you?" He says, jumping up from his desk and kissing her on the cheek as he skids out the workshop. "I have to find Steve."

* * *

Tony's out of breath by the time he hammers on Steve bedroom door, half exerted half nervously-excited.

"Steve," he wheezes growing impatient for an answer he rattles the handle not really thinking it through, the door unexpectedly gives and he stumbles into Steve room.

 _"Jeez Tony_ , give me a chance to answer the door," Steve says hastily tidying papers that were strewn all over his desk, "What's the big emergency?" he says flustered his cheeks steadily filling up to pink, Tony suddenly realising that this was the first time since _'the kitchen incident'_ they had been in the same room longer than ten seconds.

"It was Hydra," he blurts, "the break-in I mean. Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb anything," he rubs at the back of his neck suddenly all too aware of how he must look, he catches Steve's eye then abruptly drops his gaze to his feet realizing he ran here in his socks. "They err… Well, they took The Winter Soldier file,"

Tony sees Steve flinch at the mention, his hands momentarily balling to fists before they relax at his sides again. He grunts by way of response.

They stand in awkward silence, the atmosphere building to something thick with all the things that are going unsaid. Steve looks furious, every muscle in his jaw pulled taut as he glares down at his desk.

"Umm, everything alright Cap?" Tony asks because he thinks he should. His chest starts to go tight when Steve doesn't answer. It's to do with _'the kitchen incident'_ he knows it.

"Listen, Steve. I should thank you, for the other night…. Wait, I mean, _sorry,_ I should _apologize,"_ it was coming out all wrong, but Steve was looking at him now, something close to sadness and hurt in his eyes, "It, err… Well, _it went too far_ -"

"It wasn't Hydra, _"_ Steve blurts, throwing Tony for a loop.

 _"Excuse me?"_

Steve rakes a hand through his hair rifling through the papers he had hurriedly stashed in his desk, _"This is all wrong,_ it wasn't Hydra," He tries to push something into Tony direction who puts his hands up and takes a step back.

"What's going on here Steve? I don't… Look, _just put it on the desk,_ " Steve obliges and steps back dropping his head as he does so. Tony shoots him a glance confused by the sudden change as he steps forward and it's Steve's turn to look at his feet. He shifts uncomfortably out the corner of Tony's eye, who can't quite believe what's strewn open on the desk.

"Is this… _Some kind of a joke?"_ Tony pushes the words out, resisting the urge to claw at his chest as the realization of what's going on grips him, "What the _hell_ is this?" He smacks a hand down onto the file, "Are you trying to tell me _you_ took it? Steve, what the hell is this? I thought… I thought you were _helping me_ , _what the hell was all that the other night?"_ He feels his blood start to heat up as his voice raises a decibel or two.

 _What the hell kind of game is Steve playing…_

"I'm sorry, I… I didn't mean for this to happen… I asked Natasha to help me find him after the helicarriers and he disappeared _, I didn't know what she was going to do_." Steve pleads barely able to look at him.

Anger mixed with betrayal churns in Tony's stomach and rushes into the space between them, "You should have come talked to me, instead of… _arranging to steal it_ ," he spits.

"Tony, the building was on _lockdown_ , nothing was leaving that facility. It was the only way-"

" _Not the only way Steve_ , _I_ could have worked something out." Tony folds his arms in front of his chest squaring up to Steve, making the considerably taller man shrink back.

"I'm sorry Tony, I would have come to you first if I had of known where the files were being kept-"

"Do you have any idea what I have been going through the last few days?" Tony pauses, not long enough for Steve to respond, "I'll answer for you shall I? _I've gone through hell Steven_ , thinking it was _another_ terrorist group, _picturing the fallout_." Tony taps a finger vigorously to his temple, "Jesus Christ, I came here to _apologize to you_." Tony turns away from him sharply and jerks violently away from the hand Steve tries to put on his shoulder, "No, _you don't_ ," he hisses and keeps his hands up until Steve's got the message.

"I don't believe you, what was it you said: _'we're a team',_ some fucking team Cap. _Some fucking team."_ He stalks out the room without looking back.

He ends up back in his workshop, seething and gulping scotch neat from the bottle, it stung that Steve would go to such an extream, he'd watched the recording one more time, just as a sadistic punishment for himself, it definitely wasn't Steve or Natasha that slinked through the cabinets like smoke.

And that horribly-nice-niggly thought of: _'Steve had kind of been into it…'_ From earlier, which made him feel warm inside was now replaced with the crushing realization that:

 _Steve will bend every moral he has for the sake of James Barnes…_

If that wasn't an excuse for another hit of scotch, then Tony didn't know what was.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been hours since Tony had stalked into his workshop and put it on lockdown. Steve had tried knocking, when that hadn't worked he asked Bruce to shout through the door. He'd begged Natasha to try-she'd refused, _hell_ , Clint had even given it a shot and left a powdered sugar handprint on the handle from his doughnut. It was Pepper, god bless her who had used her override and eventually unlocked the door.

"You better be going in to apologize," she says tucking a stack of envelopes underneath her arm. Steve winces, it made sense that she would know the whole story already, she was Tony's confidant and closest friend, "Just to be clear. I'm doing this because I need him to get over whatever it is ASAP. Natasha and yours' little stunt unearthed something else that requires his attention," she glances up flashing Steve a tight half-smile as she taps keys in rapid succession. The access panel flashes green releasing the lock with a mechanical _'pop'_. "I have to go to a meeting, please don't upset him even more." With that, she leaves.

Steve steels himself and goes in.

Tony makes for a sorry sight, hunched over asleep with his head resting on the desk snoring softly into an expanding puddle of drool with one hand still loosely clasped to the bottle of scotch he was no doubt using as a painkiller. Steve shuffles over fully aware that his presence wasn't wanted, sighing he teases the bottle free from Tony's grip, his fingers instinctively flex and curl seeking out the solid glass that had been there moments ago.

He snorts awake his eyes flying open and startling Steve whose still leaning over him and narrowly misses being clocked in the jaw when Tony sits upright scrubbing a hand over his face and wiping the drool off his cheek.

" _You_ ," he says sourly, narrowing his eyes and tensing his shoulders.

"Please Tony, _hear me out_ ," Steve pleads, holding his hands up. That last thing he wanted was _another_ fight.

"How did you even get in here?" Tony flicks his eyes to the door.

"Pepper,"

" _Figures,"_ he huffs sarcastically, "Well since you got in here it shouldn't be any trouble for you to _get out."_

Tony slides off of his chair and out from behind his desk, "If you don't mind _Steve_. I have a lot of work to do," he says with his back turned.

Steve still awkwardly holds the scotch bottle in his hands, "You're drinking again," he says and watches the whole of Tony's back go tense.

"So? I _never stopped_ drinking, why do you even care?"

"Of course I care, I wouldn't have asked Pepper to let me in here if I didn't," Tony snorts in response folding his arms and twisting to half face Steve with his expression set hard in anger.

"All you care about is James Barnes," Tony says sieving his resentment through gritted teeth, "You care about him so much that you'll go behind my back-" he turns, squaring up the Steve "-you'll hire _sleazy_ mercenaries to break-in and steal-"

"Tony, _it wasn't like that_. Give me a chance to _explain_. _Please_." Steve's desperate, Tony has to understand, his motivation was never to hurt him.

" _Fine,"_ he says sharply, planting his arms in front of his chest "You've got two minutes before I use you as target practice."

 _OK, you deserve that, you've got two minutes, make it count._

"I panicked Tony," Steve puts the bottle down on the desk and starts wringing his hands instead, because _where did he start?_ "I woke up with nobody, in a world _I don't belong in_ ," he pauses to stop his voice cracking, "Then I find my best friend growing up is still alive, and… _it's massive_ , but they've brainwashed him and it felt like I'd lost everybody all over again," Steve takes a measured breath, and Tony coughs a little like he's stopping himself from saying something. He leaves out the part about the nightmares.

"Natasha tells me she can help, _and I trust her Tony. like I know you trust her_ ," Tony sniffs dismissively but it's not an outright denial so it's the best Steve going to get. "I was desperate, _I am desperate_. I've got to know he's OK, _he's all I've got left_ if there's a chance I can find him then…" Steve's voice breaks, and he trails off from the high pitched squeak holding back the lump in his throat. He thinks he sees Tony react the slight drop in tension from his shoulders and the flash of concern across the lines of his face that have been pulled tight, "I never meant for it to get in such a mess, _I swear."_

"You could have come to me, Steve," Tony says the hostility dropping out of his voice so he sounds more exacerbated than angry, "we could have.. _I dunno_ , sorted _something."_

Steve finds his nerve again, _like Tony could fix it all,_ "You mean like you came to me? About the terrorists? The ones buying the Stark weaponry?"

" _Hey!_ You don't get to have the moral high ground here Cap, _this is way worse_!" Tony switches back to angry and rigid his arms tense tight around his chest again.

Steve rubs the bridge of his nose and shuts his eyes, "I didn't mean it like that," he mumbles.

 _You're making a mess of this…_

"Neither of us are good when we panic, Tony." He says evenly, Tony grunts in response. Steve resists adding on a comment about _'Wasn't that what the kitchen was about?'_ Tony's not bringing it up so he's not bringing it up, now's not the time.

"So this is a Captin America sized fuck up?" Tony finally says, "He's really that important to you huh?" Steve looks up and he's still wearing the same tight expression he had earlier like there's a whole lot more he wants to say but he's holding it back with a thin-lipped grimace.

"Yes,"

"Steve," Tony clears his throat, _"Get out of my workshop."_

* * *

Waking up at 2 am had become such a common occurrence in Steve's routine that it was almost a cliché. His dreams had been getting all mixed up, they used to just be about Bucky, _nightmares about Bucky._ Steve could _do_ nightmares, he'd lived through the war and, _more recently_ , fought monsters that most people wouldn't believe existed had it not had live coverage across the major news networks.

Usually, he'd pace around the tower, down a glass of water and they were done, he could get back to sleep ready for the next one. _But this_ , Steve drops his eyes to his lap to the ridged issue current driving sleep away, _this_ he wasn't sure how to deal with.

Ever since the night in the kitchen with Tony his body didn't seem to get the message that it _wasn't_ going to happen again.

He couldn't remember the exact details of the dream, but he remembers _touch_ , he got his hands on Tony's bare skin, slid them right up under his t-shirt, grazed his nails along his ribs and felt the heat from his chest. He'd heard Tony's breath stall in his chest; the shell of his ears catching all the sordid things Tony asked him to do.

Steve closes his eyes, recalling it as best he could, his subconscious had built up an image of what Tony might look and feel like naked from the glimpses Steve got in the locker rooms and generally sharing the same living space. His hand strays lower, pausing just above where his shorts are tented. He takes in a shaky breath, hearing Tony's words from earlier echoing in his head - _"Get out of my workshop."_

He'd blown it. _  
_

_I can't._

He rests his hands at his sides digging his fingertips into the screwed up blankets and wills his body to stop throbbing, _stop aching._

He eventually pulls on a pair of sweats, muttering a little pep talk to himself, that _this,_ this was temporary. The whole thing and Tony was pissed _now,_ but he would get over it, Steve was going to figure out a way to make it up to him. As for the misplaced feelings, well they would fade, it was just friends … _working out some tension_ , people do it all the time in this decade.

The pacing was doing little to placate his body, the softest glance of the fiction from walking alone was making him grind his teeth and his face flush with heat.

He wasn't going to give in to this feeling. He could be stronger than it… _Or not…_

He came back around from his thoughts realizing his feet had carried him to Tony's workshop.

Tony's workshop that he was barred from entering.

He stands hot and bothered, confused and lost because he wanted to speak to Tony again, he wanted another two minutes to explain himself…

And maybe another twenty up against the kitchen counter…

He was a mess, no fit state to be standing here.

He was pounding on the door with his fist before he could stop himself.

He's not sure whos more surprised when it opens.

"What? Oh, s'you," Tony blocks his way folding his arms across himself, tucking his hands up into his armpits and tensing his shoulders, "What d'you want?" he says to the floor, the way his words blurred to one gave him away, so did the smell of alcohol on his breath, you didn't need super senses to pick that up.

"Tony, I…" Steve short circuits, his eidetic brain, _that was so fucking smart_ , can't think of one damn thing to say, he stands there stammering running a hand through his sweat-damp hair, _"_ I'm _… I'm sorry,"_ for whatever good it'll do, _"I shouldn't be here."_

Tony looks up scowling and Steve blushes as deep and red as he did in the kitchen, his fair skin giving him away, the tips of his ears burn and he _can't_ stand there any longer. He staggers, almost tripping over himself when he spins to dart away, in a display of un-Captain like clumsiness. Tony stops him dead in his tracks when he says, "Hold up there _Cap;_ S'wrong with you?"Steve can almost hear the sardonic grin Tony's wearing before he turns around to face him, it figures that Tony Stark – _International Playboy_ would be able to pick up on Steve's ill attempt at hiding that he was as keyed up as a dog on heat that had been fed viagra.

 _I shouldn't have come._

" _This_ isn't like you," Tony smirks, it sends a wave of shame through Steve's whole body, he shifts his weight awkwardly, doing his best to pretend he wasn't here to see if Tony would listen to him, _then let him stick his tongue down his throat_ , _then pull him off until he saw stars because jacking in the shower didn't quite hit the spot_.

"Why don't you come in," Tony drawls, with all the boldness of before, leaning a hip against the wall, his eyes drop South, then back up, his voice going thick just like in the kitchen, "You can show me how _sorry_ you are."

The animal in Steve that had been hovering just below the surface doesn't just stir this time, it roars up, stops him from even looking for that one good reason to say 'no' and walk back out, instead, he utters the word _"yes,"_ and the air rushes from his lungs along with it. It controls his feet over the threshold of Tony's workshop, makes him look well trained and practiced as he shuffles towards him needing something he doesn't know how to articulate.

" _I'm sorry_ … I can't... I'm just… _I need…_ " Steve struggles with the words, his hands restless with the need to touch brushing Tony's then pulling at the fabric on his t-shirt.

"What d'you need Steve? _Tell me…_ " He breaths against the skin behind Steve's ear having stepped forward. _"Is it me?"_ Steve damn sure he can hear the amusement in his voice when Tony's beard brushes feather light against his pulse point, it makes the hair on the nape of Steve's neck prickle from the roots, it coasts down his spine solidifying to a throbbing warmth in the pit of his stomach.

" _Yes…_ _You,"_ he gasps, curling his toes, " _I need you._ "

Tony walks backward guiding Steve with him, the smirk still on his face watching Steve obey; he stops when his back hits the edge of a metal workbench; leans up like he might be going in for a kiss and Steve's there ready, Tony never breaks eye contact as he runs his hand up the back of his neck, Steve's stomach flips and he starts to feel hazy, but instead of the soft touch of lips, Tony yanks a handful of his hair, _hard._ He yelps and his scalp sings, Tony laughs. _"You have to earn me,"_ He takes his hands off, lets him take a step back and rub furiously at his hairline.

" _What was that for,"_ Steve asks and hears himself sound pitiful as he blinks back the tear it brought to his eye. Tony's response is to smirk, with a reckless glint in his eye. He deliberately unlatches his belt, not once tearing his steely gaze from Steve who intakes a sharp breath when Tony jeans and shorts pool around his ankles, his belt buckle hitting the floor with a loud resonant clang.

It's another dare, Tony's favorite game. How far can Tony push him _this_ time, how long is Steve going play?

" _Knees,"_ Tony says and Steve swallows dropping, not entirely sure why it feels so right. His kneecaps feel like rubber when they hit the hard metal tread plate on the workshop floor.

A small part of him that was still controlling the honest morals of Captain America stops him from shoving Tony back against the workbench. He's still what Steve would _'decent'_ the teasing hem of the Guns 'n' Roses t-shirt he had on stopped mid-way down his thigh, the folds of it caught awkwardly at his crotch. Steve shuffles forward until he was close enough to run his hands from the back of Tony's knees, up his thighs to where he can lift his shirt.

Tony's skin felt exactly like it had in the dream, smooth and soft, but with a delicious give under Steve's fingertips, his control starts to slip the higher his hands go shaking with the anticipation over flinching muscles.

He swears he's numb to everything except the throbbing in his pants and the glide of skin underneath his fingertips.

Up and _up_ , taking the soft cotton fabric with them, _until he can see everything_.

Tony watches him, bracing with both hands against the edge of the workbench, his eyes blown so wide that his irises are barely slivers in the overhead fluorescent. It's the way Tony flinches, the twitch of his bare skin against Steve's slow exhale, that raw reaction from Tony, usually wrapped in something expensive and now _so bare_ that makes the last tentative grip he had on his self-control slip, _"I can earn you,"_ he says his voice too husky and deep even for him.

He lifts and pushes at Tony's hips in one smooth motion, sitting him up on the bench as he gives a weak protest and shifts, arching a little straighter at the sudden shock of metallic cold on his bare backside.

Steve should feel embarrassed, he's got no idea what he's about to do, but somewhere within the last ten minutes eagerness had overwritten inexperience and Steve's body seemed only too willing to comply when Tony had essentially told him to _'suck it,'._ And maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the thrill of it all but Tony sits unabashed, with his cock jutting shamelessly out into the space between them smirking down at Steve on his knees who vaguely remembers something about 'covering your teeth' before he licks his lips and takes Tony's cock all the way down his throat on his first attempt.

Accidental or not, he wishes, _wishes,_ he could have seen the look on Tony's face when he did it, he hears the noise- the shocked yelp that comes from above; the clatter of the screwdriver Tony knocks off the bench when it hits the floor by his knees. He feels Tony involuntarily jerk his leg out in surprise and catch him in the ribs with his foot.

He knows that there should be _teasing, grinning, stroking_ , but they aren't there yet. This _isn't_ going to be drawn out careful touches or elegant and practiced.

 _It's fumbling_ and Steve gags at the fullness in his mouth because the angle's all wrong, he chokes again and feels the saliva leaking out the corner of his lips. He adjusts his position slopes a shoulder and glances up, there's eye contact, something they hadn't had in the kitchen, Tony looks down a mixture of awe and desperation in his eyes.

Suddenly it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that Steve's a novice and hasn't got a clue what he's doing and it's super strength and stamina and something else Steve can't quite place that's making this work. Steve pause tingling all over, he wants to say something. Tell Tony how sorry he is _again_ , tell him that everything's getting so messy but at least they have each other, at least they have _this_ … Whatever 'this' is.

He blushes and glances away feeling his own cock throb where it's barely contained.

He loops his arms under Tony's knees feeling his bare thighs quiver against his cheeks and under his touch, Steve's hands finally settle on either side of Tony's ass as he moves him into the position he wants with Tony's legs resting on his shoulders. The angle's better, but the sound's muffled the usual mechanical hum of Tony's workshop drowned out and all Steve can hear is the erratic breathing that comes from above and the slight creak from the workbench below every time Tony shifts or jerks unexpectedly.

Steve not sure he's found the right rhythm; he starts off slow once he gets the hang of not gagging. Flattening his tongue against the underside and pressing the tip along the vein that he can feel Tony's rising pulse through. Tony shudders and goes tense and Steve starts to pull all the way back until his lips only just cover the head. He feels Tony grab him by his hair and hold him where he is in a mild rushed panic, _"don't… don't stop,"_ he says breathlessly.

 _I had no intention of stopping…_

It's hard to say with a mouthful, Steve hums pointing his tongue and pressing it against Tony's slit. His whole body goes tense and he curls around Steve letting out some strained growl as the hand on the back of his head turns to a claw and digs into his scalp pushing him back down until he's got Tony all the way to the back of his throat again.

He must have been at least doing something right, it spurs him on. He moves faster ignoring the numbness that was creeping up his knees, keeping the pressure of his tongue just right and focusing on the heat from Tony's hand on the back of his head that told him the rhythm to keep, a slight push when he wanted it faster, the hard yank at his hair followed by a groan when Steve did something he really liked.

The hair pulling, it really shouldn't do what it does for him, the tingles from his scalp jolting right down to his dick, if he wasn't already on his knees they'd have buckled by now.

Steve swirls his tongue around the glands at the head of Tony's cock, leaving it feeling sticky and tasting the distinct saltiness that wasn't there when he started, _"Yeah… That's it…"_ Tony's gasps Steve glances up to see he's still watching, probably had been the whole time, he's biting down on his bottom lip like it was the only thing that was keeping him together and it's the- Tony Stark-about-to-loose-control that does it, like Steve is privy to this small part of him that nobody else sees.

It kicks Steve into high gear.

He tightens his lips, _"Christ… Steve,"_

He hollows his cheeks, _"Yeah, just like … that,"_

Lets Tony slip to the back of his throat and swallows each time he draws him into his mouth, _"Holy shit… Steve…"_ He ignores the kick he gets to the back of his ribs from Tony's heal and the saliva that's leaked down his chin and onto Tony's balls. His mind tuned into the sounds from above, he relishes the desperate keening Tony does when he can't keep control anymore and his whole body starts to shake thrusting erratically up into Steve's mouth and wrenching at his hair like he's pushing and pulling him away all at once.

" _Steve, Steve… I can't… Steve, it's…"_ Tony cut off with a protracted groan never quite finishing his sentence, Steve holds him through it as he squirms in his grip, his hips stuttering through his orgasm and coming down the back of his throat.

Swallowing seems like the gentlemanly thing to do and Tony makes some appreciative sigh, _he's earnt him_.

He waits, not ready to give up the amount of skin contact, he rubs his cheek on the inside of Tony's thighs that flinch oversensitive to touch. They stay that way until he feels the tension drop out of Tony's body.

Steve reluctantly shuffles back, still on his knees and waits for some sort of cue that would tell him what to do next.

"Don't. Don't look at me like that," Tony says shakily getting down from the bench, slowly retrieving his clothes, his voice a rasp.

"Like what?" Steve's throat feels sticky when he talks, he's already committing the taste of Tony to memory.

"Like you've made it better,"

"I didn't… It wasn't-" Steve ties himself in knots, he still can't think straight, " _I came to apologize_ ,"

"You did a _sterling_ job Captain," Tony smirks shoving his pants back on and stepping closer. Steve never ceasing to be amazed at his recovery time. He moves into Steve's space, standing so close that Steve can see the slightly flushed gleam of his skin, can feel the graze of fabric against his own when Tony moves closer.

He stretches up until there's barely an inch of space between their lips. It's almost a kiss.

 _It would be so innocent in comparison._

Steve braces himself because it would be enough to get him begging for Tony to touch him, _make him see stars_. That thing Steve feels that makes this so easy swirls in his chest and he can feel the warmth of Tony's lips that are millimeters away, the heated body that was pressing against his, the friction of Tony standing that close-

"Excuse me Sir.."

Steve gets ripped out of the moment so fast he almost gets whiplash. JARVIS's voice echoes around the workshop, "I wouldn't want to interrupt, but I believe that I have found something pertinent to the ongoing investigation into the break-in."

"Sure… sure, JARVIS what it is," Tony says disinterested, the post-coital glow still on his cheeks as his gaze flits from Steve's eyes to his lips and back up again they both stand there is some suspended -almost-kiss.

JARVIS lights up the monitor off to the left, "Well sir, there was an artifact reported stolen from the Natural History Museum four months ago."

"Mmm-hmm, that's nice JARVIS." Tony's breath is a tickle on his jaw.

"By all accounts, _it wasn't valuable_. A six by six stone cube that was brought back as part of the 'Treasures of The Himalayas' Exhibit-"

"You interrupted us to tell us that?" Tony angles his head away from Steve irritated at the AI, sounding like he might be trying to shut him up. Steve still isn't entirely convinced he's breathing he can hear the conversation between the two, but it sounds miles away.

"How is this _pertinent_ information JARVIS?"

"It's the security footage that was recovered," The screen blinks. Tony breaks their eye contact to glance at the screen.

"All I see is grainy security footage, send them my card. Maybe we can kit them out with something that will show them more than just a few pixels.

Now if you don't mind JARVIS. I'm a little busy-"

" _Sir_ , if I could have your attention, it will only take a moment." The AI doesn't give up, his uppety British tone exasperated by his disobedient Master. Tony's shoulders drop, the spell between him and Steve broken, he turns away without a word.

"Fine," he bites, stalking over to the railing to watch the footage, leaving Steve standing there shaking. "Show me what's so important."

* * *

Tony watched the footage rewind. It's late, he still a little drunk - enough that it's making him fuzzy, and after his tryst with Steve, his body feels like it's unspooled and too relaxed to concentrate. He leans on the railings for support, vaguely aware of Steve shuffling up next to him, he smirks to himself.

 _He likes needy Steve,_ he was easier to forgive.

The security tape starts to play a wide-angled view of the darkened museum rotunda lit by emergency lighting and nothing else, nothing worthwhile, nothing interesting. He's not even sure he's still interested … _Until he sees it._

A steak of shadow, misty, formless and barely human in shape moving with purpose across the marble. It makes his skin go clammy and he trades a glance with Steve whose eyes have gone hard.

The footage cuts to a different angle it's centered onto a display case lit by a green exit light. The moment hangs and there's nothing. Then the same swirling shadows blot out the view. They solidify and twist up into something human in front of their eyes.

Tony's blood goes cold.

They watch 'the thing' crouch, the green light glinting off a blade it pulls from its boots. The actual picking of the lock is blocked by its back. There's the distinct moment when the display case door opens which is followed by a blinding green flash that blows the camera and abruptly ends the playback.

"Wouldn't you say, Sir, that they do have an uncanny resemblance to the person that broke into your father's warehouse. Unfortunately, that large flash took out all of the electrical equipment so they were never sure of the exit route they took.

Needless to say, no sign of forced entry was ever found, except for the broken lock on the cabinet."

"JARVIS," Tony swallows before he speaks, "What the hell was that thing?" It's making him feel sick, that's no human. Not from earth.

 _Not again…._

"I'm not sure Sir, it could be new technology-"

"Wake up Natasha-"

Steve cuts in, "Tony, are you sure that's a good idea-"

"Wake her up NOW! This-" he gestures to the screens that have now gone blank, "-This is her little stunt, I what to know what her friend is and I want to know _now."_

The silence that follows is deafening, Steve hovers an awkward distance away from Tony's pacing, he keeps catching his eye giving him a wan smile that Tony doesn't feel too much like reciprocating.

 _Tonight was turning out fan-fucking-tastic._

"Ms. Romanoff is on her way, sir," the AI pauses almost hesitantly, "with Mr. Wilson." Tony eyebrows involuntarily raise at Steve who shrugs tucking his hands up under his elbows.

They weren't the only ones indulging their carnal side tonight.

It's a few more awkward minutes before the Natasha arrives, padding through the automatic doors in bare feet and pajamas her hair sleep mussed with Sam following close behind avoiding any kind of eye contact.

Tony rounds on her before she barely three paces in, "Your friend's _a thief!"_ He says seething, jabbing a finger at the monitors as it replays the moment the display cabinet opens. "What are you playing at Romanoff? What's Nick Fury set you up for this time? Or maybe it's not him at all." Tony takes a threatening stride forward Steve intervenes splaying a hand on Tony chest.

" _Tony,"_

Sam seems to jolt to life stepping around in front of Natasha, putting himself between her and Tony, " _Oh please."_ She huffs, "Stark - what she does in her spare time is none of my business. She's good at what she does."

" _She?_ Mind telling me who _she_ is? Since _she_ has been on my property, damaged my property, taken my property, _I could go on Natasha."_

"I'm not telling you that Stark,"

"Yeah? Well, maybe I'll kick you out the tower. _Maybe_ I could hand you over to the authorities, what was it? _Ex KGB_ , you must be on more than one watch list."

"Tony," Steve scolds again increasing the pressure against his chest, just for Tony to strain against it.

"That's _enough_ man," Sam warns. Tony scowls and Steve sighs.

"Nat, this is a mess," he says without turning to look at her, "tell us who she is, you're in good company." Steve's hand momentary squeezes against Tony's chest, a gesture of calm that only he feels. He glances up at Steve his eyes the softest blue, cool and quiet grounding Tony in the way that only he could.

 _Trust it to be Steve._

" _Fine_ ," Tony eyes snap back to Natasha as she speaks, "She was special ops, on a team with Clint and me at SHIELD. We called her Ghost."

"JARVIS, you've still got the data files from SHIELD, look her up," Tony says to the AI without breaking his eye contact with Natasha.

"I wouldn't do that JARVIS-" Natasha protests, but it's too late the AI opens the file flooding the monitors with classified information, there's photo's, names, embedded videos, notes, and one big glaring inconsistency.

The ex-special ops agent's current status, marked with an enormous red flag- DECEASED KILLED IN ACTION.

Tony seethes, sieving his next words through a set of clenched teeth, "Well now Natasha, your friend doesn't appear to be living up to her current status of _dead_."

"The only way out of SHIELD was in a body bag, Tony. She went into hiding years ago… It got complicated,"

"Well, apparently I have all night to listen, we're all waiting to hear the story Natasha, _I'll put some coffee on._ So go on, why her, _why get a supposedly dead criminal involved-"_

" _-She's not a criminal Tony_." Natasha leans forward, "You, of all people should know better than to believe everything you read-"

"You've _still_ not answered my question, _Romanoff_ -"

"-because she'll lead us straight to Bucky," Tony's the only one with the right vantage point to see Steve's eyes glaze, his hand drops from where it was resting on Tony's chest taking the warmth with it. Something constricts in his throat.

"She knew him…" There's a pause Tony thinks he can hear Steve's breath quicken. "I've put a tracker on her," Natasha says and it's the first time Tony's seen her look as guilty as hell.

* * *

 **Authors Notes: As always guys thanks for reading and comments and feedback are always welcomed! :)**


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